09-30-04Looks like CBS News ... is not in learning mode. On 09-28 Richard Schlesinger used a three-month-back debunked hoax email to support a story that a resurrection of the Selective Service System (the draft) was imminent; CBS News also reported that there are two bills in Congress to reinstate the draft, but failed to mention that they were both introduced by Democrats. The website that broke the news has broken under the blast of inquiries; The blog Little Green Footballs remains online as of this writing and presents the story. How can CBS and Rather survive this with any credibility intact?09-29-04Lee Abrams ... who essentially created the AOR radio format, developing what he called "Superstars" while part of the Kent Burkhart consultancy, is now the HBMIC at XMSatRad. Wired has a great story on his career and his current work.09-29-04Those of you who have never ventured ... outside the Saragasso Sea that is St. Louis radio might have not noticed the passing of two radio giants in the past week: Bill Ballance and Scott Muni. Ballance pioneered much of what has become standard fare on talk radio these days and Muni was an album-rock stalwart in NYC.09-27-04What I wish for ... (among other things) is for KMOX' Paul Harris to get topical, even political, on the air. Paul is a very smart guy with well-defined views who has always presented his thoughts online, albeit in a somewhat guarded fashion, but who has always seemed to keep his radio show to a non-confrontational mish-mash of games and television and movies and (for no real reason I can understand) casino poker. He's way better than that. We need to hear what Paul thinks and KMOX right after Limbaugh is the appropriate forum. It's called balance and Paul is the guy to deliver it.09-27-04Too much fun at Harry's ... KMOX' John Carney busted Sunday morning for driving under the influence, leaving the scene of an accident and not having an insurance card. The P-D, TV and even KMOX' website reported it. 09-26-04Hobbled thru Borders (Olive/New Ballas) ... on my cane Saturday night, carrying a basket of books, as Mrs. A. and I cashed in some gift certificates. I approached the seating area and not one person made an effort to allow me to sit and rest a pair of worn-out legs. Of course, I survived to check out and drive home, but there's clearly something wrong with the experience. Where did common courtesy go? 09-26-04If you thought CBS booted it with the Bush story ... you'd better get into what CNN has been up to. This makes the CBS gaffe pale in comparison...09-25-04Spent a couple days playing with ...AudioXtractPro and I'm knocked out. The MP3 editor alone is worth the price of admission. Edit, rip, convert and burn CD's to just about any portable format with one touch and create individual song files from Shoutcast streams. I've dl'd a dozen discs worth of oldies already (done in the background while working on other projects)!09-24-04The rumor began at The Powerhouse on Friday ... and spread quickly beyond Emmis: KTRS Station Manager Fred Zielonko was out after 8+ years (and many more working with Tim Dorsey at KMOX). If it's true (and I hope it's not for the sake of Fred's wife, Lori, and their two sons) it's an unhappy occurrence. Fred spent untold loyal hours at his job at KTRS, handling most of the duties of a GM and doing the bidding of Mr. Dorsey. Knowing Fred, I cannot believe that he always agreed with the decisions made above his pay grade; his struggle with some of the decisions was always obvious to me. If he has been dismissed, it is purely an effort on the part of struggling management to save a few bucks, to plug in a guy who has always lusted after the gig and was willing to do it for a whole lot less. Way to go, Tim, way to inspire loyalty. I'm told by Tim's friends on the phone today that Dorsey's attitude changed radically when he married into money; I also hear that there are more firings and job outsourcings to come, including the dissolution of a hugely capable Traffic & Continuity department. It's an ugly picture currently at WestPort Plaza... 09-23-04KTRS' Scott St. James ... how thoroughly weird is this guy, partner? Comes home from acting in California (I especially remember his role as the CIA Agent in Manosaurus back in '94...okay, I lied), uses a typewriter rather than a 'puter, scripting himself completely, typing it all out diligently late into the night. Can this back-in-the-day act sustain? St. James is a strange duck for sure, but at least he has a W-2 gig...hope CH Holdings doesn't screw him too badly when they're done with him. PREDICTION: St. James'll be living in a cardboard box on Washington Avenue by Easter 2005 unless Tim Dorsey is finally restrained by his stockholders from too-freely diddling with his air talent; we think Dorsey's tried to wreck enough careers already.

09-22-04This is the chick who'll take the bullet ... for Rather and CBS/Viacom/Infinity execs. Dallas-based 60 Minutes Producer Mary Mapes apparently vetted false docs and then contacted the Kerry Kampaign. Too bad...she was also the one who blew open the prison abuse at Abu Ghraib. Mapes has been described by co-workers as "quite liberal and disliked the current President Bush's father" and it appears that her dislike colored her judgement. She just wanted it so much to be true...

09-22-04Padi Fassold-Salamone ... Where are ya? Just heard today that this incredibly talented promotion and sales wizard is no longer hanging her hat at Emmis. Their loss.09-22-04KLOU & KSD move ... The new Clear Channel facility on the grounds of the old Arena is still under construction but word is that KLOU and KSD will be on the air from there this Wednesday. The rest of the CCU cluster will be moving in over the next six weeks or so. 09-20-04CBS caves, at least for the moment ... The New York Times reports today that CBS is going to release a statement admitting that they had been deceived by the Bush service documents, although they could still pull back from such a statement. And Rather appears to be sticking with his "memoes false, story true" sentiment. CBS and Rather are looking more and more every day like DNC pawns and that's a sad thing for the entire news business. 09-16-04It's startin' to look like ... that the Bush Papers really are a hoax (even Rather is now saying he doubts their veracity) and that they came from retired Texas National Guard officer Bill Burkett, who whupped 'em up on his lil' ol' PC and faxed them from a Kinko's in Abilene TX, close to his ranch. CBS News President Andrew Heyward acknowledged that there were "unresolved issues" that the network wanted "to get to the bottom of." Burkett (currently involved in a bitter dispute with the Guard over medical benefits after suffering from a tropical disease following a military assignment in Panama and who has told reporters that he had a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized for depression after he left the Guard) evidently is not a fan of the Bush Family and has provided to CBS other questionable "intelligence" regarding W's service. Case closed? Can we move on to current issues? How disappointed are the conspiracy theorists? 09-14-04CBS and Dan Rather ... have a long history together of bias against the GOP. It began with the Nixon Administration and continues to their use of what seem to be falsified documents about President Bush. I have long considered Rather's comments to President Nixon at press conferences the beginning of the media's Fall From Grace. Now it looks like CBS' use of the Bush Papers is falling apart. PREDICTION: Rather will resign as soon as he can and go into seclusion; Cronkite will have nothing to say. Or both will moan loudly about the "conspiracy" that destroyed CBS News. In any case, it won't be pretty. 09-12-04I thought the law precluded this ... InsideRadio reports: XM launches a full-time "Emergency Alert" channel.
It's national in scope and will carry info about natural
disasters, weather emergencies like Hurricane Ivan and
"other hazardous incidents" - giving satellite listeners the
reassurance that they won't miss out on critical info, if
they're not tuned to local radio stations. Is the FCC purposely making it easier for SatRad to overcome TerRad?09-09-04CBS News ... known at one time as the Tiffany Network, and which has recently defied the FCC regarding obscenity charges (Superbowl, Howard Stern, etc.), is now said to be backpedaling (Link 1) (Link 2) (Link 3) (Link 4) (Link 5) on a story they presented on 60 Minutes regarding President Bush's military service. Seems they may have relied on counterfeit documents created a quarter-century after the fact that the network's "experts" declared real. This would be a serious OOPS, I think. 09-05-04Imagine this ... Radio DJ's with other career aspirations! Kevin Johnson wrote it in the P-D. 09-05-04Can't afford HDTV?Try this PC setup...it costs around $200. 09-05-04Deb Peterson writes in the Sunday P-D ...Former KMOX radio host Scott St. James is back in the Lou after about 20 years on the left coast. St. James is hosting a show between 9 a.m. and noon on KTRS (550 AM), and he's looking for backers for a film he wants to produce. The film, "The Reno Brothers," was written by Jesse Vint. Robert Conrad is on line to direct. Conrad's son, Shane Conrad, who is now in a TV pilot for National Lampoon, would star as a Reno brother. David Carradine, a friend of the writer's, is interested in playing legendary detective Alan Pinkerton. It must be easy to get money from STL investors...after all, Tim Dorsey's been making a marvelous living doing it for years! 09-05-04It's only taken eight and a half months ... but now Reuters is reporting: The FCC is set to impose a record $550,000 indecency fine against CBS-owned stations for their broadcast of singer Janet Jackson's breast-bearing incident during January's Super Bowl. Hundreds more of the net's affiliates get a bye on the fines. 08-31-04Kevin Robinson new Y98 PD ... InsideRadio is reporting: Kevin Robinson is Infinity's choice to program "Y98", St.
Louis. GM Beth Davis calls him "a strong leader" to take
over KYKY, whose most recent permanent PD was Smokey Rivers
-- who left for Infinity stations in New York and then
Dallas. Robinson comes most recently from a CCM background, at The Fish in Chicago but has other format experience, including WJMK/Chicago (Oldies), WBUF/Buffalo (AC), WVIC/Lansing (CHR), and APD/MD at KOY-FM/Phoenix (Rhythmic CHR). He also has a consulting firm, Robinson Media. 08-28-04No more recording of radio or tv shows ... could be the result of this
international treaty. Broadcasters will be required to insert "flags" within their signals and manufacturers will be required to add controls by July 2005 to read them to defeat off-air, cable and even internet recording. 08-28-04A free MP3 ... player and converter, available here. The CD writer software is extra but you probably already have one of those. 08-28-04Nothing But Truth ... is just plain nothing. Crane Durham is out at The Big 550, with the station's website showing McGraw Millhaven working a split shift - mornings and then 9PM-11PM, with an added (presumably recorded the day before) hour of Coast-To-Coast until 12M. 08-27-04Radio One ... specializes in Urban properties, with 69 stations in 33 heavily-African-American markets, including STL (WFUN-FM/Q95). Now their public files are coming under scrutiny and the company faces license renewal objections for its four stations in Dayton OH. The complainant there says she visited the stations on three separate occasions and found the public files "to be either incomplete or totally missing" while they were "miraculously" reconstituted by the time of her fourth visit. Her complaint suggests illegal "recreation" of necessary files. Anyone checked WFUN's public file lately? 08-26-04Maybe I shoulda said yes ... Some years back, when I was on better terms with the station, KTRS Station Manager Fred Zielonko asked me if I had any interest in doing a weekday 9PM-12M talk show... Continued here08-25-04Joining The Bull... Morning co-host Sherry Farmer of Y107/Columbia moseys to the big city for an as-yet undisclosed position. 08-25-04KIRL belly up, for sale... From R&ROnline: The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in St. Louis today will appoint media broker Ray Rosenblum to sell the license and assets of KIRL-AM/St. Charles, MO, which covers the St. Louis market. Bronco Broadcasting has operated Gospel KIRL since November 1979, and the station has continued its regular operations since the station applied for Chapter 11 bankruptcy status in July of this year. Bronco is led by President Johnny Roland, a former Green Bay Packers Running Back Coach.08-22-04Grocery stores selling beer and booze to intoxicated customers... I was in a supermarket Saturday evening, late (about 11:30) and watched a series of very drunk (yelling and stumbling) young'n's run thru the checkout in front of me, successfully buying beer and booze, after a marvelous evening at a wedding reception nearby. Bars have to be careful about this or else they lose their license or be declared complicit in any criminal act committed by a customer under the influence. Why are retail outlets not checking the level of intoxication of their customers? Neither Dierberg's nor Schnuck's do as a matter of course; maybe they should - blowing into a disposable detector would be a cheap expedient. They could just say no if the numbers were close to inebriation. Or should they have to have a cop in the store to keep an eye out? I'd hate to be killed by a drunk in a grocery store parking lot before I got the frozen pizza or roasted chicken home... I'm waiting for a response from major grocers here to see what they think. We'll keep ya posted. Don't count on hearing anything about this on radio or tv or in the paper, considering the money they spend and A-B's clout. 08-21-04So what, exactly, is the effect of alcohol otherwise? (AP) A machine that lets drinkers inhale shots of alcohol went on display Friday night in NYC. The Alcohol Without Liquid vaporizer mixes the alcohol with pressurized oxygen. Makers say it takes about 20 minutes to breathe in one shot, giving drinkers the effect of alcohol without the drunkenness.08-21-04Spotload studies ... performed by Wachovia Securities and reported in InsideRadio (owned by Clear Channel who has pledged to reduce such annoyances) alledgedly shows Country, Urban, and then CHR and Smooth Jazz as the worst offenders, with Country running 13 1/2 minutes in drivetime. (Obviously they didn't take a look at News-Talk stations.) But here's the real problem: the absurd insistence of music stations to run 10 and 12-song music sweeps. Any station can present 14 minutes of spots per hour running 4 or 5 spot sets (now called "pods") per hour. 3 or 4 units per "pod" works. Always did. A couple, three songs in a row works just fine. Maybe doesn't compete with IPOD but if there's compelling content between the songs you win. Uh-oh...that might cost more than $10 an hour... 08-21-04This is curious ... an entity calling itself the Radio Advertising Effectiveness Lab has recently published a report, touted by every major trade paper as a breakthrough in our knowledge of the subject. The actual research was done by Wirthlin Worldwide. Two things that struck me: a quick WhoIs turned up the fact that the company and the RAEL website are both owned by Arbitron; there is no mention of that anywhere on the site, at least that I could discover, although Arbitron and RAB officers are listed as Board members. And, oh yeah, the information presented is crap, nothing that anyone who programmed as far back as the 1970's and paid attention to his/her audience didn't already know. I wonder why neither Arbitron nor the RAB wanted to claim this obvious joint project... 08-21-04In the news recently ... trades and messages are reporting that Mark Edwards, nominally the PD at KEZK and also the "interrim PD" at Y98 will be able soon to concentrate solely on KEZK, with a PD coming soon for Y ... Infinity has finally re-upped with Arbitron, probably out of abject fear of selling bareback ... Arbitron's stock spiked at the news; Clear Channel's deal with the ratings folk is up at the end of the year and I bet we can expect more "suspense" ... Hot talk about Steve & DC landing a station in STL, although everything so far is smoke. But if the most logical noted move I've been told is true, there'll be a major sea change here. I'm not holding my breath; the Teflon Twosome are experts at self-promotion ... AirAmerica finally picking up steam in affiliations, but most are already-liberal markets; more preaching to the choir, and they're still buying their way in ... Emmis has picked up the Bob/Jack format in Austin; is this a prelude for a similar format on one of their non-performers here? ... 08-12-04Is there an echo here? As we mentioned a while back, AllAccess is reporting that INFINITY VP/AC Programming and WNEW (MIX 102.7)/NEW YORK PD SMOKEY RIVERS is transferring to the PD post at sister AC KVIL/DALLAS, effective AUGUST 30th. SMOKEY replaces KURT JOHNSON as PD at KVIL reporting to KVIL VP/GM DAVID HENRY.08-11-04Secret Squirrel spins on ... Freelance skills and voice training: Got word this afternoon that a local voice-over artist is setting up a Broadcast Center-style training center for new-era radio folk who want to do freelance voicework. Just what we need...semi-skilled talent weaving in and out of the few revenue lanes left for industry vets set aside by consolidation. I guess AFTRA will cut the new session rate to, what, $25? 08-09-04Pioneer KSHE DJ Don Corey ... has a digital start-up company to tell you about, offering all kinds of services for audio and video memories edited and produced to last on CD and DVD. Great multi-media website!08-07-04American Idol, fuhgeddaboutit ... Skip the tryouts: here's the new and for all time winner. 08-07-04There are those of us dinosaurs ... who occasionally make a few bucks doing what are called "industrials". This is one such project...and I cannot imagine handling the script for the Rockwell Retrometabulator/Interrossiter (although I do have one regular client who comes close in jargon). Listen carefully...this guy earned every nickel he was paid. 08-07-04Working late ... and watching Superfly on Cinemax, a truly bad "Blaxploitation" flick from the 70's (but with decent tunes from the late Curtis Mayfield of the Impressions) that magnified, somehow, the death Friday of Funkster Rick James, at 56, of "natural causes." The Dave Chappell Show will never be the same. Freak, out. 08-05-04Henri Cartier-Bresson dies at 95 ... Bresson was one of my heroes when I wanted to become a professional photographer. His vision was perfect. His work was of people; I went on to mostly taking pictures of things, then went into radio. 08-05-04Deb Peterson does it again ... picking up a lead from this website and writing the Ron Corning story at STLToday as her own. No thanks, no kiss, no surprise. 08-05-04Locally based 321 Software ... has been forced out of business by a legion of court decisions driven by pressure from the movie and gaming industries. 321's intent was to provide the ability to legally backup game and movie software under Fair Use provisions of the Copyright Act; now the only recourse we have is to use off-shore aps. NOTE: you can only legally copy CD's and DVD's you own. 08-05-04Natanel And Avraham Go To White Castle ... Israeli soldiers suffering from combat stress after tours of duty in the Palestinian territories could soon be treated with cannabis to relieve their symptoms, the Ma'ariv daily reported. A scientist who will help conduct the experiment heads a research team, which discovered that cannabis helped mice that had suffered physical stress and even reduced the risk of stroke. There was no immediate comment on the report from the Israeli military.Well, DUH! And the whole world wonders why things went so badly for the US in Vietnam... 08-03-04Former STL news reporter Ron Corning... appointed co-anchor at ABC World News Now beginning Monday morning August 9th. 08-03-04Windows built-in clipboard sucks ... one item at a time just does not get it done. Try ClipMate and gain a whole new level of memory. 08-03-04Spy vs. Spy ...
AM Listener Growth Outpacing FM (from RROnline):Veronis Suhler Stevenson's annual Communications Industry Forecast (cost:$2000>) predicts that AM listening will grow 6% in 2004, thanks mainly to the upcoming Presidential election. However, VSS also notes that a listener migration back to the AM band has been underway for the last few years. The merchant bank's annual report notes that AM listening has grown steadily since 2000 — it jumped 7.3% last year — as issues like the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the 2000 Presidential election and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq lured listeners back to the News/Talk formats that typically populate the band. While VSS expects AM growth to settle into a compound growth rate of around 4.6% over the next five years, it expects AM stations to hang on to their 20% audience share. Meanwhile, FM listenership is expected to grow at a compound rate of 2.9% over the next five years. The report also notes that the surge in AM listening cost the FM band; FM audience share slipped from 82.5% to 80.5% between 1999 and 2003. 08-03-04Most new laptops ... have 802.11 wireless service built in. I'm constantly amazed at the number of WiFi nets up and unencrypted, offering free access almost anywhere. This site shows you free access points ("WiFi Hot Spots") anywhere in the US...and there's a lot of WiFi out there, including most public libraries! 08-02-04Secret Squirrel spins on ... KTRS Sports:"Tom Casey was cut loose
by KTRS last week. Dorsey hired Steve
Savard to do football, replacing Howard
Balzer."08-02-04Humble suggestions to news-talk stations ... who offer online news updates: (1) Consider your target audience and their frailities...tiny little style-sheet-generated fonts are unreadable by anyone past their mid-40's (websites are designed by 20-somethings with perfect vision); (2) If you're going to offer news updates, well, then, please make sure your news folk are capable of updating the damned news and will do it on a regular basis; (3) Two final words: use spellcheck.08-01-04Secret Squirrel spins on ... Smokey Rivers: (again)"A comment on front page rumor about
Smokey Rivers....The station he took
over in NYC changed formats to a dance-
AC hybrid. It's not really fair to say
he "didn't work out." Considering he
has family in TX, he probably had a
choice. I'd consider it a good thing--
Dallas ain't small, y'all.
"08-01-04From the KTRS website ... Scott St. James and McGraw Millhaven join the station for 9AM-12N and 12N-2PM, respectively, beginning 09/01...Jeff Katz and other talent will be handling middays on an interrim basis. 08-01-04Secret Squirrel spins on ... Smokey Rivers:"Pretty much a fact from what I heard
yesterday. Smokey Rivers apparently
not working out in NYC, being
transferred to Dallas, effective
immediately. His new position? New
Programming/OPS Director @ Infinity's
KVIL. (May have been better to ship
him back to Market Street...right
about now!)"07-28-04You might have missed these comments ... by Ted Turner. His assessment of the current state of media consolidation is pretty much, as Burnout would say, "spot on". I don't much agree with Turner's current political orientation but at least he dumped Jane Fonda and that's points for him. 07-28-04Legendary Lee De Forest ... who had a little to do with the creation of radio, said this in the 1950's: "Why should anyone want to buy a radio . . . nine tenths of what one can hear is the continual drivel of second-rate jazz, sickening crooning by degenerate sax players, interrupted by blatant sales talks?" He created this in those very pre-Tivo days. Maybe this is what CCU's John Hogan has in mind... 07-24-04Lotsa new historical exhibits ... photos and audio at 630KXOK, including the Top 40 Is 50 presentation, with photos. 07-23-04Now everybody's doin' it ... Clear Channel's announcement that they're going to cut back commercial loads primed the pump and now other major groups are singing the cutback song. One question...are they going to try to reinvent the wheel or bring back programmers whom they threw away, programmers who actually know how to do it? 07-23-04The floodgates are now halfway open ... InsideRadio reports that John McCain's S-2505 LPFM bill got through the Senate Commerce Committee today on a voice vote. It eliminates 3rd-adjacent
channel protection for existing stations, thus allowing LPFMs even in the largest markets and drops the requirement that the FCC investigate the economic impact on full power stations. Might we someday see a Clear Channel Lite? 07-23-04Stern's contract ... for San Diego would have netted him and his syndicator $4.5million over five years. TheSmokingGun.com has published it in all it's bloated fullness. 07-23-04As predicted here weeks ago ... McGraw Millhaven joins KTRS. He'll be doing 12N-2PM starting September 1. Deb Peterson calls him "The Millhaven"...she has SUCH a way with words. She also got Paul Harris' start date at KMOX wrong...Paul begins PM Drive there on August 2 (a Monday). 07-22-04CCU's contrition ... they've withdrawn their request to move WWVA-AM Wheeling WV 130 miles to Stow OH. The mega-owner cuts the spot load and eases license movement. What's up? 07-22-04Tom Calhoun ... that great booming voice is now available freelance everywhere. Check out his new website, and order up a heapin' helpin' of his work.07-21-04He's B-A-A-A-C-K ... or at least wants to be ... Radio trades are reporting that Mike Rice, who lost radio licenses in Missouri and Indiana after his conviction on four counts of forcible sodomy, six counts of deviate sexual assault in the first degree, and two counts of deviate sexual assault in the second degree, wants to buy a Gospel station in Montgomery AL. Rice says he's rehabilitated. 07-21-04Secret Squirrel spins on ... WIL and The Bull:"WIL'S Danny Montana joins The Bull's morning show next month as Craig Cornett goes to Nashville."07-19-04CCU to cut commercial load ... Apparently the beancounters had an attack of common sense...read it here, from Reuters. 07-18-04Friday about-face ... Arbitron reverses its Wednesday decision to embargo 106 markets because of the Infinity dropout; somebody else with big money bitched and now 12+ numbers in all continuously-rated markets will be available to trades and press. Sad to say, but Arbitron's skating on very thin ice. The $25mil that Infinity used to pay for service could be the difference between bleeding out and a transfusion for the ratings giant. Whether or not Infinity can sell w/o numbers remains to be seen. One more question: how will they figure ratings bonuses for air talent (management bounuses are figured on sales goal accomplishment)? Word is that Infinity's lawyers are fast and furiously rewriting contracts that air talent will have to accept to remain employed. 07-16-04The CIA Factbook ... When I was first online, back in '89, this was passed around as a text download on two 5" diskettes (remember them?) and we thought we were seriously crafty just having the files. Link to or download the newest version here; it continues to be an important resource for news departments, commentators and talk show hosts. 07-15-04Just in case you were still confused ... the air talent in discussion with KTRS' Tim Dorsey is J.C. Corcoran, according to best sources. Dorsey, for whatever reason, wants JC back for mornings; JC, who was dismissed on his last turn at The Big 550 with no severance, is likely as not using an offer from Dorsey's cabal as a ploy to bolster a better deal with Emmis. John Beck should pay JC all the money Emmis/STL can, considering the impact Corcoran has had on KIHT's numbers. Dorsey, on the other hand, deserves an immediate replay of the Ankarlo/Francene debacle and a trip to the woodshed.07-15-04Infinity's corporate shrink-wrap ... cutting services to the bone, dumping Arbitron, etc., means that we'll see Arbitron ratings once again embargoed in this market, and, at last report, for at least six months. We'll rely, of course, on our regular round of resources to keep us on top of the numbers regardless. 07-14-04Secret Squirrel spins on ... KTRS: "Mr. Dorsey has plans to move Wendy & Bill to mid-mornings and add a hugely-paid early-morning show that might involve a previous player or two." We are SO tired of Dorsey shooting himself in the foot. How does he keep salespeople? 07-13-04Infinity closes ranks... shutting down Arbitron in favor of Media Audit, which they ask to create a new service competitive with Arbitron. Other corporate research services are restricted to GARY BERKOWITZ, COLEMAN RESEARCH, HARKER RESEARCH (for callout), MERCURY RESEARCH, PINNACLE MEDIA, POLLACK MEDIA, or ZAPOLEON MEDIA STRATEGIES. AllAccess says this saves Infinity almost $5million annually; think there was any pressure to cut billing by new management who have no idea about radio? 07-13-04UK plans analog shutdown... From AllAccess: The UK government says that it will set a date for the shutdown of all analog radio services as the switch to digital continues. Culture Secretary TESSA JOWELL announced in the foreword to a report by the DIGITAL RADIO DEVELOPMENT BUREAU that a date for the shutdown will be set later this year. About 600,000 digital radios have been sold thus far in the UK in 2004; about 100 million analog radios would be made obsolete if analog were to disappear right away, which is unlikely.07-12-04Frank Absher collects KSHE... After almost 40 years as STL's major rock'n'roller, there's a reunion scheduled 7/30/04 - 8/01-04 (for more info, contact fabsher@stlradio.com) including an open-to-the-public roundtable discussion with KSHE jocks 7/31 from 2p-4p at the STL Public Library. 07-12-04Apple kicks ass... Apple has officially surpassed the 100 million songs download mark from the iTUNES Music Store. 07-12-04At what point... does Infinity cut Howard loose? Stern's transgressions make it to Money Magazine.07-12-04Free CD Ripper & Burner... Download and install AudioGrabber, UnZip and plug this DLL into the AG directory and it's all good. Copies and burns. Free, right? You heard me say that? FREE? 07-08-04Secret Squirrel spins on ... KTRS: 9-2pm Middays vacancies on KTRS created by
the departures of Kevin Slaten and Paul
Harris to be filled by McGraw Milhaven (when
covenant expires in six months) with Crane
Durham filling in in the meantime with a shot
at a full-time day gig if he can pull some
numbers. Yup, Cranes's sorrowful meanderings will make a great inroad to FOP...until he splits in 2/05/. 07-08-04KLOU's looking for a bigger audience ... but with the current mix they'll only get it by moving their antenna to the Community Tower. We're hearing that's what they're up to, lowering power but raising height. Works for FM. 07-06-04Don't know why we didn't do this last year ... This last weekend, after three long-term power-outs, we managed to set our office up on DSL, with the entire deal wirelessly networked. I'm still catching myself sitting in front of a monitor as if on dial-up, blindly watching at oldspeed a screen already loaded. Bet we get used to it quickly, until I get my email to work. 07-01-04Stern bloviates ... Howard gets back some of the markets he lost when CCU dumped his show - amazingly, they're all on stations owned by his syndicator. His rant about all this had the timeline a bit off, saying that he was fired because he criticized the President. His criticism of Bush began after he got dumped, as we all remember. And Infinity has launched a $10 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against CCU, accusing them of violating terms of agreements to air the show and wrongfully failing to notify them the show was being dropped, charging that they are still owed license fees. Everyone complains that there are no clear programming guidelines...what's this? Seems pretty clear to me. 07-01-04Secret Squirrel spins on ... Kevin Slaten: He's evidently given KTRS his two-week notice and has signed a deal with KFNS, likely for PM Drive. 07-01-04My apologies ... for this page being missing in action for the past 24 or so hours. I've just migrated the OS here to WindowsXP and the editor insisted on renaming the page to something that just did not want to work online. Hopefully, I've got it all under control now. But it is a computer file and, well, what the hell...